Operation Lightspeed
Operation Lightspeed is the first episode of Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. Synopsis Accidentally freed from 5000 year long imprisonment, a band of Demons, led by a creature named Diabolico, return to the city of Mariner Bay, built upon the ground they once called their homeland. They seek to revive their ruler, Queen Bansheera, and plot wipe out the humans to reclaim their rightful property. Prepared for their return, a secret government agency known as Lightspeed recruits a team of five young adults, each an expert in a specific field (a firefighter, a stunt pilot, an extreme sports enthusiast, a diver, and a nurse in training), to become the team of Power Rangers to rescue Mariner Bay from this menace. Plot Somewhere in the desert, a group of travelers stumbles across some ancient ruins. They investigate it, looking for treasure. In an underground chamber, they find a coffin that begins to tremble when a skeleton is moved away from it. They open it, releasing several demons. The demons fly through the air to a city, where they knock over several civilians. In what appears to be a military base, a young woman informs a man she addresses as "Captain" that the demons have escaped. The captain opens a safe and removes some case files, saying that "It's time to bring them in." Military personnel (along with the young woman from before) track down and bring in Joel Rawlings, a stunt pilot; Kelsey Winslow, a rock climber; Chad Lee, a performer at a water park; and Carter Grayson, a firefighter. Carter is already up a ladder to rescue a girl from a burning building. While he is helping the girl, he sees a monster through the flames, which throws more fire at them. He manages to escape with the girl. The young woman from the military base takes over helping the girl, saying that she is a paramedic. When the little girl is safe, the military personnel and the young woman ask Carter to come with them. Meanwhile, the demons make their way to a castle in an unknown location. They expect to find Queen Bansheera, but she is not there. They explain to each other that they must care for the queen's son, Impus, and that they want to destroy the city that the humans built over their palace. The five young men and women travel by helicopter to a submarine, and they soon arrive at the military base, which is underwater. The captain welcomes them to the Lightspeed Aquabase and introduces himself as Captain William Mitchell. Joel accuses him of "kidnapping" and wants to leave, but Mitchell insists that they hear what he has to say. Mitchell explains that the demons lived in that area five thousand years ago. A warlock had sealed them in a tomb, but they have escaped. Lightspeed has developed technology with which to fight the demons, and they want these young men and women to use it and become Lightspeed Power Rangers. Joel still wants to leave after he still accuses Mitchell of "kidnapping", but Carter tells the group about the demon that he saw in the fire. A report comes in about more damage being done to the city, and it's shown on the screen. The young people volunteer to help, beginning with Carter and ending with Joel. Mitchell gives them their morphers, and he gives the fifth morpher to the young military woman, his daughter Dana. The Rangers grab identical jackets and get into a truck that they drive through underwater tunnels back to the city. When they get there, the fire monster and his foot-soldiers, which he calls Batlings, are attacking civilians. Four of the Rangers get out and fight Batlings, while Carter drives the truck straight toward the monster. None of them are doing very well until they use their morphers. Once morphed, they quickly take out the Batlings, blocking blows that hurt them before and doing acrobatic stunts. When they all fire their blasters at the fire monster at the same time, he is destroyed. The Rangers demorph and are thanked by the civilians. The Rangers return to the Aquabase to more cheering from the officers. Captain Mitchell however informs them that the creature they destroyed was not Diabolico but one of his many monsters, and now that Diabolico knows they exist he will be determined to take them out. This battle was only the beginning: the hard work begins now. Dana and the other Lightspeed officers salute followed by the new Rangers, showing their dedication to the cause. Cast *Sean Cw Johnson as Carter Grayson (Red Lightspeed Ranger) *Michael Chaturantabut as Chad Lee (Blue Lightspeed Ranger) *Keith Robinson as Joel Rawlings (Green Lightspeed Ranger) *Sasha Craig as Kelsey Winslow (Yellow Lightspeed Ranger) *Alison MacInnis as Dana Mitchell (Pink Lightspeed Ranger) *Monica Louwerens as Angela Fairweather *Ron Rogge as Captain William Mitchell *Diane Salinger as Queen Bansheera (voice) *Neil Kaplan as Diabolico (voice) *David Lodge as Loki (voice) *Kim Strauss as Jinxer (voice) *Jennifer L. Yen as Vypra (voice) *Brianne Siddall as Impus (voice) *Ken Merckx as Ghouligan (voice) *Zuhair Haddad as Taru *Jay Harik as Haba *Mike White as Dark Suit *Aesop Aquarian as Warlock Gallery 5 Rangers 2.jpg|First time being morphed into the Lightspeed Rangers Errors *The Rangers took their morphers from the case seemingly at random. *Despite the fact she was heavily involved in the Lightspeed project, Dana was apparently ignorant of the fact there were five morphers. *In the morphing sequence, Dana is fourth to morph, despite her number being 5, while Kelsey is fifth even though her number is 4. Notes *This is the second season premiere to not be a multi-parter. The first was "Day of the Dumpster". *Ghouligan is a repaint of Psycho Red's monster form. *This episode opener, where five civilians are "recruited" into being Power Rangers, is similar to the opening episode of Goggle V. *This is the first Power Rangers episode to air in the new millennium, 2000. VHS/DVD releases *''Operation Lightspeed'' was released on Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue (VHS). See Also (story) (Demons Debut & footage) Category:Lightspeed Rescue Category:Episode Category:Season Premieres